[kmsga]

Our son Q will turn 2 in March. Recently we've noticed a distinctive change in his personality. He seems so...aggressive/angry when things don't go his way: throwing things; totally sweeping the table, coffee table, his tray, etc. clear of things if he's upset; mood swings; REAL difficulty getting him to go to sleep/stay asleep, especially at night. His tantrums seem to come on so suddenly, and with no apparent (to me, anyway) reason.
He also has had what I thought was just a runny nose/mild cold symptoms for awhile, but a visit to the ped said a sinus infection. He's on antibiotics for that; I mentioned the other stuff to the ped who said that since Q was probably not feeling particularly well, clearing up the infection should clear up the behavior issues; made sense to me, since I know how I get when I don't feel well. Challenge is, he's been on the amoxicillin awhile now, and the behavior hasn't changed any, so now I'm beginning to wonder...
His bmom said she used marijuana daily until she found out she was pregnant, basically through the first trimester. I've been hesitant to think that it could be the drug use until a relative of DH, who has a background in child psych/early childhood mentioned it. Now it's got me wondering if it's more than just the "terrible twos" or the sinus infection or if it's something we should be concerned about. This change has come on rather gradually, I suppose, but it's really gotten to be noticeable and a concern in the last month or two.
Any thoughts???

[musemoon]

I'm no doctor so I certainly am not an expert. My daughter was exposed to crack, cigarettes and pot and she has out bursts of anger and tantrums, she too is turning two, but she has therapists and folks who have been assesing her from birth and she is loving and sweet and all of them (myself included) chalk up my kiddo's mood swings to teething, toddlerhood and being two :-).

These kids can really heal from all of that stuff, but if you are really worried, I would mention it to your pediatrician, our has been very diligent about following up on anything that she thinks is irregular, so far so good!

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by musemoon

I'm no doctor so I certainly am not an expert. My daughter was exposed to crack, cigarettes and pot and she has out bursts of anger and tantrums, she too is turning two, but she has therapists and folks who have been assesing her from birth and she is loving and sweet and all of them (myself included) chalk up my kiddo's mood swings to teething, toddlerhood and being two :-).

These kids can really heal from all of that stuff, but if you are really worried, I would mention it to your pediatrician, our has been very diligent about following up on anything that she thinks is irregular, so far so good!

I second everything Muse says. Both my kids are prenatally exposed to crack, cigs and alcohol and we struggle with knowing what is what and for the most part are working with the developmental side of it (as in, yes, turning two adds an element of angst in a little one's life... what with language and other development, it's gotta be tough on them) until we see something really telling and we are watching for it.

What you are saying in your post does sound like it could be related to any or all of your theories and I'm sure that's exactly what you wanted to hear, lol! If it were me, I would have my child (and have) evaluated by an early intervention program or child psychologist just to make sure. For us, we have done both plus had Roo, who has much more known exposure and possible issues, eval'd by a developmental pediatrician who knows something about prenatal exposure.

[Barksum]

Kids can be very nasty naturally. It really can seem as though someone flipped a switch when they hit 'the terrible two's' at whatever age that happens to hit during toddlerhood. Be super consistent. I know this isn't easy, especially when you do wonder if it is drug related, BUT even if it is drug related being consistent with your Ds is the way to go.

Some kids react to allergies, food additives, etc. in this way. It could be so many things, from environment, the terrible two's, not feeling well, or drug exposure. I third (or fourth?) what the others have suggested. Follow it and keep your ped informed. If you believe it is problematic, ask your ped for a referral for evaluation by Early Intervention. They can do some screening and help you determine if this is within the normal range or if there are other factors at play. We worked with speech and occupational therapists, as well as an early development specialist. Not that they turned my kids into 'normal children' , but they did help us overcome some real sticking points.

[lifeinashoe]

I'm not sure from what you wrote whether this behaviour started before he was on the antibiotic or not. But I just thought I'd mention that my son goes crazy like that whenever he has anything with red food coloring. A lot of medications are brightly colored. Just a thought and may be worth a try. You can ask the pharmacy to mix it with out any food dyes.

[kmsga]

You all have been very helpful so far. It's good to know Q's not the only little one who's behaving this way. I appreciate your responses, and we'll just have to continue consistency. As for when it started, it was before the antibiotic, and yes, it is a bright pink color. I've been pretty watchful about feeding things w/too many additives, but the holidays threw a kink into a lot of our eating habits (yup, I totally take ownership of that one), and, his behavior was taking a nosedive even before then.
So, I guess for now we'll chalk it up to terrible twos and keep a watchful eye.
Thanks everyone!

[atouchofheaven]

wow! that sounds almost exactly like my son, except the sleeping part, he is a great sleeper thank God! but his behavior and mood swings are far more extreme than any toddler i've seen. he was born addicted to methadone. but i'm not sure if that plays into it or not.

at first i thought it was an attachment problem and did a LOT of attachment strategies and parenting. and that helped for a while. now, he is back at it again. i'm sure some of it is terrible two's kicking in. he already gets birth to three services for speech delay. but nobody seems to know what to do when i tell them what he is like. now i'm looking into sensory ideas.

i was doing a "time in" on my lap for hitting/throwing and aggression. and it worked really well for a while. but now it's wearing off. not sure if i should start an actual "time out" now or keep doing what i've been doing. he is mostly aggressive when he can't get his way, when he's frustrated, and sometimes for no reason at all. any ideas would be great.

i know it's a normal toddler problem, but it's really hard to live with!